Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt has always coached defense, but he knows one offensive position intimately: Jayse Pruitt, his eldest son, will be a redshirt junior quarterback this year at Jacksonville State, an FCS school. And Jayse Pruitt can read a depth chart as well as his father.

“He’s got two years left, and he said, ‘Dad, I’m probably not going to be the starter and probably never will be, and there ain’t nowhere I can transfer to play,’ ” Jeremy Pruitt said, matter-of-factly.

Pruitt didn’t say what advice he gave his son, but if Jayse were a quarterback at an SEC school, the choice would be obvious: leave.

Two weeks ago, Stetson Bennett, who was third on the depth chart at Georgia, decided to transfer to a junior college, with the hope of finding a place to start eventually. What made Bennett’s departure unusual is that he was a walk-on. Head coach Kirby Smart tried to keep Bennett, a redshirt freshman, with the inducement of a...